A partnership between Extension and the Office of the State Entomologist was formed to build a citizen science project focused on monitoring for invasive species. This effort includes me, Blake Newton (Entomology Youth Extension Specialist), and Carl Harper (Office of the State Entomologist). We are calling it “Kentucky Keepers” and it involves 4-H youth volunteers, Master Gardeners, and Master Naturalists. The Extension specialists recruited Extension agents across the state to help coordinate and recruit volunteers in their counties. The specialists on the team also designed a curriculum on invasive organisms, spongy moth, and spotted lanternfly and delivered sessions through Zoom. These two insects were chosen as they are not established in the state but pose multi-billion-dollar threats to Kentucky wood product industries and discovering them in the state would cause restrictive quarantines, further harming Kentucky economics. Nine, one-hour long sessions were offered, volunteers only needed to attend one though. The Office of the State Entomologist designed an app program that volunteers can use to report sightings of the tree of Heaven, spotted lanternfly, and spongy moth. They also provided pheromone traps that were given to volunteers for use in monitoring for the spongy moth. These traps are a part of the National Slow the Spread program for this pest. 

In total, 27 agents have agreed to be local coordinators and 30 counties are being monitored. Nearly 300 pheromone traps have been deployed by volunteers. This has added valuable new data to the Slow the Spread monitoring project by adding 7 counties that were not previously being monitored before. Four of these, Whitley, Knox, Laurel, and Harlan, are near the current border for spongy moth distribution and need to be included to protect Kentucky forests. Currently, the value of this project is about $8,000 in effort for the Office of the State Entomologist as they normally have to hire external contractors to perform this work.